My personal hero Kai Troester said it's mostly sodium, and it might keep your mash pH from rising over 5.8, at best, but probably doesn't do anything. It definitely adds about 100ppm of sodium to your beer. So, if you like salty beer, 5.2 stabilizer is really cool. In fact, it's the best!

It's just not physically possible to make a phosphate buffer that buffers to 5.2, end of story.

I haven't had their beer, but I think using 5.2 is one of the few things in brewing that is objectively, unequivocally, just plain wrong. You might be able to use it and make good beer , but it's certainly not good because of the 5.2, it's good despite the 5.2. It goes to show you that just because someone is a "pro" doesn't necessarily mean they know the best way to do something.

Doesn't work for me. I tried it thinking it was going to be the "miracle elixer" for my mash pH. Nope, didn't do a dang thing for me. However - using phosphoric acid, lactic acid and chalk all are ways to bring your mash pH into an acceptable range that actually works.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is...

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Michael P MitchemBeer and Ale Research Foundation (B.A.R.F.)AHA Member since 2011